


Mechanical Hearts and Phantom Thievery

by HanaHimus, tattoosanta



Category: Persona 4, Persona 5
Genre: Aeon Confidant, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Retelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-09-09
Updated: 2017-09-09
Packaged: 2018-12-25 12:03:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,144
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12035499
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HanaHimus/pseuds/HanaHimus, https://archiveofourown.org/users/tattoosanta/pseuds/tattoosanta
Summary: Akira Kurusu wanted nothing more than to live an honest student life. With the discovery of another world and a power beyond his wildest dreams, however, that plan is ruined.Now he's thrown into a world of phantom thievery, the forging of bonds, and trying to reach his "rehabilitation." As if that wasn't hard enough, a woman he meets early into his life in Tokyo seems to just raise more questions...





	Mechanical Hearts and Phantom Thievery

**Author's Note:**

> I didn't mean for it to get this long in just the first chapter ;; Anyway! New fic from tattoosanta and I. Started because I was kind of thinking about how an Aeon Confidant could work thanks to the many fics I've seen focusing on such an idea. This one does its best to fit the theme of non-human that 3 and 4 has.
> 
> \- The start kinda seems slow and follows the game closely, I will admit. I tried to cut down as I wrote this chapter, but there was only so much I could do. The Aeon Confidant does appear in this chapter though.  
> \- You don't need to know P4 Arena to understand this, but if you know it, you might have a little more insight on who Phaedra is ;). If you want to know without playing the whole game 1) I recommend the game anyway, it's nice. 2) You can watch Labrys' story on YT and figure it all out, I'm sure.  
> \- Phaedra's Confidant can give random stat increases, or more HP/SP. It would be a randomized increase each time, except the first. The first increase is one of HP and SP by 5 each.  
> \- For this fic, Akira is from the Kansai region. He'll speak with a slight accent that seems to resemble the Boston Area due to that (to follow suit with the other character who speaks with such a dialect in the Persona games). This has a role in the story, so that's fun.  
> \- Sakamoto seemed to be a town? I looked it up and it seems to exist. If not we can say its. A fake town for the lulz. I usually think of Akira from Inaba pls leave me be.  
> \- This Aeon Confidant will be treated as 100% platonic. If ships are added later (which is possible) they're most likely going to be m/m or f/f ships.  
> \- Note on the name: Phaedra was the sister of Ariadne in Greek Mythology. Kudos to you if you understand why that name was picked.
> 
> Robin will be writing chapter 2, so keep an eye out for that! Hopefully they won't write until their fingers bleed like I did.

As Sae told Akira to start from the beginning, he shut his eyes and began to think. He tried to push the fuzziness caused by the drugs to the side, but it didn’t seem to be working. His eyes opened once more and now, something was different. In front of him was a metallic blue butterfly, flying in front of him. How did that get here…?

He watched it fly past, sitting up straight. Was this another hallucination caused by the drugs in his system?

_ “...You are held captive.” _ The voice sounded so familiar… “ _ A prisoner of fate to a future that has been sealed in advanced. This is truly and unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none.” _

He’d felt like this had all been rigged from the start, but this was just proving it. But a game…? Was this a game of some sort…?

“ _ But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you.”  _ The mysterious voice continued on, Akira doing his best to listen. “ _...I beg you. Please overcome this game… And save the world… The key to victory lies within the memories of your bonds -- the truth that you and your friends grasped.” _

He watched the butterfly dance around him. That was right, his bonds…

“ _ It all began that day… When the game was started half a year ago… For the sake of your world’s future… As well as your own… You must remember. _ ”

With that, the butterfly flew away and the memories started coming back to him.

 

\--

 

Akira woke up on the train with a start, letting out a small gasp. How long had he been asleep? He hadn’t missed his stop, had he…? He stared forward, doing his best to try and figure out exactly where he was in that moment in time. He could do this…

“ _ Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for riding with us today. We will be arriving in Shibuya shortly.” _

He glanced up at the posters on the wall as the voice went on, mentioning it was the last stop for the line. He was going to need to get off and transfer, then… Hell, that’s even what the voice basically told him he had to do.

With a frown, he looked to his hands.  _ What a pain… _

To think the reason this had all started was he’d simply tried to help out a woman. He wasn’t going to stand for sexual harassment, so what happened?

_ “Damn brat, I’ll sue!” _

Oh, right.

“What, are you for real? A mental shutdown?”

Upon hearing those words, Akira glanced up and over at two school girls, talking and giggling.

“What? It’s the truth!”

“To a person, though?” The first girl laughed and moved towards her friend. “That’s gotta be a joke! You really love all that occult stuff, don’t you?”

Nothing else of much interest happened on the train ride as Akira stepped off and made his way for his next destination. He stared down at his phone, refusing to make eye contact with anyone. Who knew what that could end up leading to for him, anyway. Maybe another lawsuit, and he doubted there’d be anyone else to take him in if that happened.

When he finally told himself he could look up, he let out a small breath. Tokyo was...something else. Sakamoto sure didn’t have that many people or those big, fancy television screens and ads everywhere. The city was already shaping up to be really different than what he was used to.

A sound on his phone pulled Akira out of his thoughts as he looked down at it again. An app that seemed to be a red eye appeared on screen and soon took up the lower half. Well...that wasn’t normal, and Akira was pretty sure he hadn’t downloaded anything like that. He tapped it a few times and, well, nothing seemed to happen. Was it a virus that made his phone unusable or something like that?

Akira froze when he heard someone stop mid sentence in a way that gave off the impression of slowing down. When he turned to look, that was what was happening, everyone slowly coming to a frozen position in the middle of the bustling area.

“Huh?” Okay, he knew this wasn’t normal, not even for the city. He looked forward, hoping to find some answers, and saw everyone else following suit with the people behind him. Akira was, to put it lightly, freaking out as he looked around. What was going on? There was no way this was normal or okay in anyway. He needed answers.

Too bad the closest he got was a blue flame in the middle of the intersection. He looked at it, eyes wide. What was that…? The flame soon took on a humanoid form, wings sprouting as the shape became more defined. A disturbing grin appeared and it was soon replaced with Akira’s own grin, his eyes...yellow?

He soon came out of it, everyone moving around again. Had...had he just imagined that, then? No one else seemed to be reacting to it all… He looked back to the phone, that app still there. Maybe not then, but… If it was the cause, he was going to delete it and hurry on his way.

 

\--

 

After the first two days went horrible, Akira didn’t know what to expect. A dream involving a man with a long nose and twin wardens, Sojiro Sakura and his homeroom teacher wanting nothing to do with him… He just felt like it could either only get worse or stay about the same. When he made it onto the train alright, he started hoping for the latter, but…

Well, now it was raining and he was doing his best to stay dry. Of all the days to not have an umbrella it had to be today… Students ran by, talking about how horrible it was and wanting to make it to class as soon as they could… Too bad him showing up wet might make him look even worse.

He looked at his phone with a frown, eyes widening when the damn app appeared again. What was this? The third or fourth time? It went large again and he just sighed. Looked like it was there to stay, no matter what he did.

Before he could think much longer, a girl came up and stood next to him. Her hoodie hid her face, just one of the many modifications she seemed to have to the uniform. There was also the skirt, shorter than the ones he usually saw girls wearing at school. It was the kind of outfit that would make someone stand out in the crowd.

Soon enough, she removed the hood and he saw more that would make her stand out. Her hair was blonde, a natural form of it that in no way looked dyed, and her eyes blue. Her nose and eye shape had the hints of more European blood than most in Japan had. That didn’t mean there wasn’t things about her that still told him there was Japanese blood in her… A mixed race girl, huh?

After looking around, she seemed to realize she was being stared at. She stared back and Akira was trying to formulate what to say when she smiled at him. She seemed friendly enough when she turned away at that point. Akira was just about to say something to her when a car pulled up.

The window rolled down and a man, he guessed a teacher, with a large chin smiled at the girl. “Good morning! You want me to give you a ride to school? You’re gonna be late!”

The girl smiled at him, but Akira could tell it was forced. “Um sure, thank you.”

As she walked to the car, the teacher looked at him. “Do you need a lift too?”

“Huh?” He blinked a few times before smiling and waving off the offer. “Nah.”

As the girl buckled in and the teacher rolled up the window, Akira couldn’t help but notice how scared she looked. Was there something up with the teacher, then? He stared at her barely visible face until the car drove away. He guessed he would never know, then…

At least until a vulgar looking boy came running up, stopping when he realized he wouldn’t catch up. “Dammit! Screw that pervy teacher!”

“Pervy teacher?”

The boy turned to look at him. “Huh? ...What do you want? You plannin’ on rattin’ me out to Kamoshida?”

Akira frowned. “What do you mean?”

“Huh? In that car just now. It was Kamoshida.” He looked away. “He does whatever the hell he wants. Who does he think he is--a king of a castle? Don’t you agree?”

He blinked a few times, he wasn’t sure he got the simile. “The king of a castle?”

The boy looked panicked for a second. “No, I mean...Wait. You don’t know Kamoshida? Are you for real? You’re from Shujin, right?”

“I’m originally from Sakamoto, but I’m going there now.” He shrugged. “You go to Shujin too?”

“What? No other high school’s got a uniform like this. Sakamoto is in the Kansai region, right? No wonder you don’t know…” The boy looked over his uniform. “A second-year, huh… We’re the same grade then.”

Akira nodded a bit. Sounded like that was the case, which was nice… Maybe this guy could be a friend if he played his cards right.

“You’re from Sakamoto, so you’re a transfer student?”

Akira nodded. “Yeah, that’s what I said.”

“Your dialect isn’t that strong, though, so I was thinkin’ you’d been around here longer than I thought.” He shook his head. “You’re not, though, so it’s no wonder you don’t know him.”

He turned away and looked around a bit, Akira still watching him. Was he going to say something more about this Kamoshida character, then…? It was hard to tell with how this guy had been talking since they first made eye contact, though.

“This rain ain’t too bad.” He turned to look at Akira. “We better hurry up, or we’ll be late.”

He turned to walk away and they both froze, holding their heads. Akira felt lightheaded and it looked like the boy did too…

“Uuugh, my head hurts…” Looks like Akira had been right, then. “Dammit… I wanna go home…”

After a minute, he started to walk away and Akira followed after one more glance at his phone. Things were already starting to get odd, it seemed.

 

\--

 

In the interrogation room, Sae stared Akira down, a frown on her face. “...There was a terrible subway accident that day. You remember it, don’t you? I assume you know of the uproar that the public calls the “psychotic breakdown incidents.””

Akira let himself lean onto the table, head still hazy. “I might…

Sae crossed her arms. “You say that like it’s none of your business.” She leaned forward. “It was all over the news, and one of the victims included a teacher at your high school. I’ve no doubt you heard about it. On that day… were you still an “ordinary” student?”

Akira bit his lip. He had nothing to say to that, at least not at this point in time.

Sae sat back. “Let me change the question. You transferred to Shujin Academy, yes?”

He nodded. Shujin Academy, the place where it began…

“An ordinary prep school that could be found in any city…” She paused for a moment. “...That’s what it should’ve been. What happened around that time? Tell me everything--truthfully.”

Akira closed his eyes and did his best to remember where he left off…

 

\--

Walking along, Akira followed the boy through an alley and he shoved his phone in his pocket. Was this some sort of short cut? The vulgar boy had the look of someone who might know where to find quick ways to school and the like…

He paused after stepping in a puddle, what had just happened…? He felt there’d been something off about it… Glancing back, though, there didn’t seem to be anything. How odd.

“Wha?!” Akira heard the boy yell out and moved to make it to his side as fast as he could. In front of them was what Akira could only describe as, well, a castle. “We didn’t...come the wrong way though. Yeah, this should be right. What’s goin’ on here?”

The boy turned to look at Akira. “I guess we’ll just have to go and ask.” Without waiting for a reply, he started walking towards the building. Akira gave a small noise of approval and followed after him. They were going to figure out what just was going on with all of this.

The inside looked just as much like a palace as the outside and Akira wasn’t sure what to think.

“T-that’s weird. Where’s the school…?” Looked like the boy didn’t know what to think either.

Maybe comedy would help in this moment…? “Is this our school?”

He turned to look at Akira, not picking up on the joke. “It should be… It said “Shujin” on the gate… What’s goin’ on here?”

He pulled out his phone, probably to call someone or look up directions, only to frown. “Out of service? Where’d we end up…? The sign was for the school, right?”

Akira frowned as he looked around. “What’s going on here?”

He jumped a bit. “I-I don’t know! I wanna know! Does everyone from your town ask questions like that?”

“Not really, just--” He froze when he saw someone (or was it something) in what seemed to be a full suit of armor coming towards them.

“Geez, you freaked me out…” The vulgar boy didn’t seem worried about this in the least. “Who’re you? You a student?”

Akira had to wonder, did students in Tokyo dress like that sometimes? If they did, well, Tokyo was a lot weirder than he thought it was.

“Man, your costumes impressive...” He took a few steps towards the being. “Is that armor real? C’mon. Don’t just stand there. Say somethin’.”

Upon him saying that, more beings in the same armor approached and Akira could just tell this wasn’t going to end well. Had they messed up in some way? He felt like they’d messed up in some way.

The boy’s eyes widened and he took a few steps back towards Akira. “...H-hey, what’s goin’ on?”

“This must be a prank.” Akira wasn’t sure of that when he said it, but he wanted to convince himself. He couldn’t stand the idea of being in trouble already…

“You really think so?”

“...I-I’m not sure…” He had to be honest. “I hope so, at least.”

The guard closed in on the boy and he frowned. “...This shit’s real.” Another step was taken. “C-calm down! Time out, man!”

Akira frowned. “What do we…?”

The boy turned to look at him. “We gotta run!”

He nodded a bit. “Got it.” That was just about there only choice, wasn’t it?

The boy grimaced. “Stop standing around and run!”

They went for the door, only for more of the beings to cut them off. Akira had a feeling this wasn’t going to end well…

“Ugh, what’s with these guys?” When a being smacked into him with his shield, he fell over with a yell. This was very bad.

“Oww… Y-You’re gonna break my bones, dammit! The hell you think you’re--” He let out another yell before the two of them were closed upon. Akira was more than sure this wasn’t going to end well now.

“Take them away!”

 

\--

 

“...Hey. Hey! Wake up!” As Akira came to on a more than uncomfortable bench, he saw the boy kneeling near him. How long had he been out…?

He sat up slowly, wincing a bit. Whatever those beings had done, it hurt… He gripped his head, doing his best to get a hold of his surroundings. This was all so confusing. Especially since it looked like they were in a dungeon of sorts. Then again, they seemed to be in a castle.

“You all right?”

“Yup, you?” He glanced up at the boy.

“Yeah, more or less.” He began to rotate his shoulder, as if it was hurting. He turned away and looked around, rubbing the back of his head.

“Looks like this ain’t no dream.” He grimaced. “Ugh, what’s goin’ on?!”

“I think--”

The boy ran up to the cell and started slamming his hands into the door. “Hey, let us outta here! I know there’s someone out there!” He came back, a frown still on his face. “Dammit, where are we?! Is this some kinda TV set…?”

“I don’t think so, no.” Akira shook his head. “Way too real lookin’ to be that.”

“But--”

They both looked at the cell door in shock when they heard screams. That just proved to Akira that this had to be real. There was no way that’d been acted out. It sounded too painful, went on too long, to be for some sort of movie or show.

“T-the hell was that just now?” His eyes widened as they both ran towards the gate, trying to see the source of the scream. All they got instead was what sounded like another begging for help. This was disturbing…

“You’re shittin’ me right?” After waiting a moment, he frowned. “This is real bad. Isn’t there someway outta here?! C’mon, we gotta do something!”

“Uh…” Akira looked around. “O-okay, let’s see.”

He looked around, nothing seeming to be of use. Not for them, at least. A torturer might get a kick out of some of this stuff, though. Gruesome. No matter where he looked, neither he or the boy seemed to see it as a way out of here.

“Huh? You hear that?” His eyes widened again and Akira turned to look at him.

“Hear what?”

“C’mon!” He turned to look out the cell and Akira joined him, looking out the side. If there was going to be something, he had to hope it’d be good.

One of the beings, which Akira had to guess was a guard, spoke as a group of four approached. “Be glad that your punishment has been decided upon. You charge is “unlawful entry.” Thus, you will be sentenced to death.”

“Say what?!”

A familiar voice, though with an echo to it was heard as someone approached. “No one’s allowed to do as they please in my castle.”

“Huh?” He gripped the bars and Akira grimaced at the site of the grown man in a speedo. “Wait… Is that you, Kamoshida?”

“Who?” Was that the name the boy had given the teacher they’d seen earlier…?

“I thought it was some petty thief, but to think it’d be you, Sakamoto…” The man’s eerie yellow eyes store into them, almost enough that Akira didn’t notice that the boy’s last name was the same as his hometown… “Are you trying to disobey me again? It looks like you haven’t learned your lesson at all, huh?”

He turned to look at Akira and he had to resist the urge to move back. “And you brought a friend this time… because you can’t do anything for yourself..”

Sakamoto pulled on the bars. “This ain’t funny, you asshole!”

Anger on his face, Kamoshida(?) turned to look at Sakamoto again. “Is that how you speak to a king? It seems you don’t understand the position you’re in at all. Not only did you sneak into my castle, you committed the crime of insulting me--the king.” He grinned. “The punishment for that is death. It’s time for an execution! Take him out!”

They backed up when the guard moved forward, Sakamoto’s voice shaking. “S-stop it....!” Soon, he was in a corner. “...Goddammit..,!”

With a yell, he slammed into one of the guards, knocking it over. “I ain’t down for this shit! C’mon, we’re outta here!”

“Yeah--”

Before Akira could truly say anything, a guard punched Sakamoto into the wall, the boy letting out a pained gasped. Akira did his best to try and pull one of the guards away, but the thing didn’t even budge, not an inch.

Sakamoto looked up at him. “Just go! Get outta here…! These guys are serious!” Was he really telling Akira to leave him behind?

The Kamoshida-looking being turned to him. “Oh? Running away, are we? What a heartless friend you are.”

But he hadn’t said he was going to. “No, no…”

“He ain’t a friend…” Akira looked at him, eyes wide. “C’mon! Hurry up and go!”

“What’s the matter? Too scared to run away?” No, that wasn’t it. He just didn’t want to leave Sakamoto to die. “Hmph. Pathetic scum isn’t worth my time…”

He turned to grin at Sakamoto. “I’ll focus on this one’s execution…” He walked over to him, grin growing. “Take this!”

He threw a punch, Sakamoto yelling out a bit in pain. He continued to punch him. “Lowly scum! Useless pest!” Soon enough Sakamoto was on the ground and Akira couldn’t take much more of him being thrown around.

Soon enough, Kamoshida seemed to be done, spitting on Sakamoto as if to add more insult. Akira was frozen, he wanted to do something, but what was there for him to do?

“...Hmph. Where’d your energy from earlier go?” Sakamoto was picked up and thrown towards the wall. “A peasant like you isn’t worth beating.”

Kamoshida approached, a grin on his face. “I’ll have you killed right now.”

“Have you lost your mind?!” Akira couldn’t keep quiet anymore. He wasn’t going to let someone be killed right in front of him! Especially not someone who seemed to mentally unstable.

“Hm?” Kamoshida turned to look at him. “What…? Don’t you dare tell me you don’t know who I am.” He approached Akira, smiling as he got in his face. “That look in your eyes irritates me!”

He kicked Akira into the wall, the boy unable to brace himself. It hurt as soon as he slid to the ground. He needed to try and get up, though. He needed to stop Kamoshida…

“Hold him there… After the peasant, it’s his turn to die.”

He stood up as the guard moved for Sakamoto. He ran forward to try and stop it, only to be slammed into the wall with what he had to call incredible force, forcing the wind out of him.

“No… no…!” Sakamoto sounded more than a little scared as Kamoshida approached him. “I don’t wanna die!”

Kamoshida laughed at the boy’s fearful pleas and Akira wanted nothing more than to break free of the grasp keeping him in place. 

“ _ This is truly an unjust game… Your chances of winning are almost none. _ ” A metallic blue butterfly appeared before Akira and his eyes widened. What in the world…? “ _ But if my voice is reaching you, there may yet be a possibility open to you.” _

He was sweating, shaking. What in the world was that? Why had it appeared now, of all times…? None of this was making sense to him…? Who was the girl behind that voice?

“ _ What’s the matter…?”  _ He gasped as a man’s voice filled his head. “ _ Are you simply going to watch? Are you forsaking him to save yourself?” _

Akira did a best to gain control of himself as the voice spoke on. “ _ Death awaits him if you do nothing. Was your previous decision a mistake then?” _

The images of what had happened swam before his eyes as he grit his teeth. “It wasn’t.”

He looked over, Sakamoto was being raised from the ground by one of those guards. If Akira didn’t act soon he was going to die. He wasn’t going to let Sakamoto die. That sword pointed at him, he wasn’t going to let it strike him down.

Akira began to struggle as the voice began to speak in his head again. “ _ Very well… I have heeded your resolve. _

With a gasp, pain coursed through his head. He began to sweat and shake, unable to control his body as fully as before. He let out a scream, wanting to do something, anything to make the pain go away.

“ _ Vow to me. I am thou, thou art I… Thou who art willing to perform all sacrilegious acts for thine own justice!”  _ He screamed again, head now pounding in a way that made him feel like he was dying. “ _ Call upon my name, and release they rage!”  _ With those words, one more gutteral scream escaped him.

_ “Show the strength of they will to ascertain all on they own, though thou be chained to Hell itself!” _

Kamoshida pointed at Sakamoto with glee as Akira’s head cleared. “Execute him!”

“That’s enough!”

“What was that…?” He turned to look at Akira. “You desire to be killed that much…? Fine!”

The guard next to him slammed its shield into his face and his glasses went flying to the side. He was pushed into the wall, held there by two guards. Another raised its sword on Kamoshida’s command and… Akira’s eyes flew open.

A burst of wind blew the guards back, leaving Akira with room to move, to breathe. On his face appeared a mask “Huh…?” He reached for it and what he had to do hit him, he had to remove the mask. He began to tug, yelling at the pain. It was as if it was sewn to his face…

Soon enough it was removed, blood flowing from where it had just a moment ago laid. As the pain subsided, Akira felt himself grin. The same grin that had surely sat on his face in that vision he had seen not too long ago. Moments later, he was engulfed in flames.

Laughter came from the flames and soon he stood there, almost reborn. His outfit new and a creature, no, not a creature. Arsene stood behind, he had awakened to what had to be a new power and he wasn’t about to let this go to waste. He was going to fix this.

 

\--

 

After some shock from Arsene, as well as defeating some of Kamoshida’s goons. Akira wasn’t sure what to think. He’d gone back to his normal clothes and he and Sakamoto had been able to make it far. Not without seeing what seemed to be prisoners of Kamoshida’s will, however… It’d bee  disturbing. If they hadn’t been sentenced to death, what would have happened to them?

“Another dead end…?” Sakamoto let out a sigh. “Dammit! How the hell’re we supposed to get out of here?!”

“...Hey, you there. Blondie! Frizzy Hair! Look over here!” They both blinked at each other before following the voice to its source.

Standing in the cell was what seemed to be a small cat-looking mascot character? What other weird things were they going to be seeing in the place? Akira couldn’t help but feel Tokyo was even weirder than he thought it’d be.

“What is this thing?!”

“You’re not soldiers of this castle, right?!” He didn’t seem to react to what Sakamoto said. “Get me out of here! Look, the key’s right there!”

Sakamoto stepped forward. “We’re tryin’ to get the hell out of here…! I mean, you obviously look like an enemy too!”

The little guy looked at Sakamoto with wide eyes. “I’m locked up here, so how can I be your enemy?! Help me out!”

Akira blinked a few times, still registering this all. “...A cat?”

“I am not a cat! Say that again and I’ll make you regret it!” So much for not being an enemy.

Upon the sound of clanking armor, however, the two teens turned. “They’re catchin’ up already…!”

Sakamoto looked to his phone. “Shit, there’s still no service. Ain’t there any way to contact someone outside? How the hell do we get out…?!”

“Hey, you two!” The creature caught their attention again. “Wanna know where the exit is? Let me out and I’ll take you there. You don’t wanna get caught and executed, right?”

Akira turned to look at him. They didn’t have much choice, but he needed to show he wasn’t an idiot. “You better not be lying.”

“I’m not lying! It’s the truth!”

Sakamoto looked over at Akira. “This thing sounds like it’s all talk…”

_ It’s? I thought it was obvious he was a boy… _

“You think so?”

“If you guys think you can get out on your own, be my guest!” The cat seemed less than pleased by what they were discussing, then.

“Whadda we do…?” Upon more sounds, Sakamoto turned to look at Morgana. “Are you seriously not messin’ with us?!”

He sighed. “If you don’t hurry, they’ll catch you.”

Akira looked at him. “We should trust him, at least for now.”

“F-Fine…” Sakamoto grabbed the key and soon enough, the creature was free.

“Ahhhhh…. Freedom tastes so great…”

Sakamoto frowned at him. “Now where’s the exit, you monster cat?!”

“Don’t call me a cat! I am Morgana!” He stopped his little paw against the ground. Akira couldn’t help but think that it was cute, in a little toy or kid kinda way.

“Shuddup and hurry it up! You wanna be locked up again?!”

“A-all right, sheesh!” He frowned. “Follow me, and stay quiet!”

With that, he took off and the teens wasted no time following after him. He was their best bet, after all.

Morgana soon enough explained to them they had to pull on the statue of Kamoshida they’d run into in order to lower the bridge. Upon pulling the jaw down that indeed did happen. Morgana seemed to know his stuff about all of this. Impressive.

“How were we supposed to know to do that?!” Sakamoto’s eyes were wide. He didn’t get any of this, did he? Well, that was alright, Akira barely got it.

“Hmph, amateur. Come on, let’s keep going!”

They ran along for a while, no problems in sight. Well, at least until they ran right into a guard.

“A-aah! Shit… Shit it’s them!” Sakamoto fell to the ground, Akira’s outfit changing to that costume he’d had on earlier. Looked like it was time to fight, then.

“Tch… You amatuer!” Morgana jumped over his shoulder and landed gracefully in front of Sakamoto. “Stay still!” He turned to Akira. “Hey you! You could fight, right? Let’s go!”

With another jump, he looked up at the guard. “Come…! Zorro!” In a flash of light and with a  scream from Sakamoto, a top heavy being appeared behind Morgana. It indeed gave off the same kind of feel as the story of Zorro. The fact it sliced a Z into the air just made it more apparent.

Sakamoto was in shock. “Y-you got one of those things too?!”

“Hmph, we will promptly shut them up!” And with that, Morgana crossed his arms and the battle began.

It took no time for the beings to be defeated and for Morgana to explain a bit about the power (it was called Persona apparently). Akira was told he didn’t have full control of his power which, in all honesty, wasn’t that shocking. The more interesting thing was the fact Sakamoto’s first name was Ryuji. Good, Akira felt awkward calling him his surname.

After running past some jail cells with what seemed to be Shujin students suffering and one more fight they made it to the entrance of the castle. They were going to be able to go home now, then? No more of this fantastical fighting…?

Morgana led them down a hall and turned to them as he came to a stop. “We’re here!”

“Finally! We’re saved…!” Ryuji let out a sigh of relief. He ran to one of the doors and tried to open it… It wouldn’t budge. “...It’s not openin’! Did you trick us, you jerk?!”

Morgana sounded exasperated when he spoke again. “Don’t jump to conclusions! Over here!”

He ran into the next room and Ryuji’s eyes widened. “H-hey wait up!”

In the room, there didn’t seem to even be another door… Was this really the way out?

“Where are we supposed to get out from here?! There aren’t even any windows!”

Morgana groaned. “Ugh, amatuer… This is the most basic of basics.”

Akira looked around and his eyes widened. He knew how, but… He wanted to have fun. “Are you going to die in here?”

“That’s right.” Morgana hit the ground for a second. “Everything’s hopeless and black like my fur--Now why would I die here with you two?!”

Morgana shook his head. “The ventilation shaft, you morons! You guys should be able to squeeze through it one at a time.”

Ryuji nodded. “I see… Then we just gotta get that metallic mesh off!” He ran over to it. “And a one, and a--”

He pulled it off and went falling. “Whoa! Ow… Crap! The enemy didn’t hear us, did they? Seriously, we’re finally gettin’ outta here…!”

“You should wait on celebrating until you actually get out.” Morgana seemed to almost laugh a bit. “Now, get going.”

“But… What about you?” Ryuju frowned. 

“There’s something I still have to do. We’re going our separate ways.” He nodded a bit. 

Akira smiled at him a bit. “Don’t get caught again.” He hoped it sounded like he was just teasing.

“Heh, you better be careful too.” Morgana seemed to take it in good stride, that was good. “See ya.”

And with that, they went their separate ways, Akira just barely catching Morgana calling the two of them useful.

 

\--

 

After a run in with some police officers, Akira and Ryuji really needed to get their asses to school. Too bad after all that happened… Akira wasn’t sure he trusted Ryuji’s sense of direction and decided he should stop and ask someone else. Ryuji hadn’t been happy about it, but, well, he didn’t say no. That was a good sign, right? He wasn’t being told straight up to stop.

“Just be quick, dude, we don’t wanna be any later than we’ve gotta be.” Ryuji sighed as Akira finally settled on a woman.

She had mint-green hair, done up nicely in a bun. She seemed to be wearing a suit and was alone, but, well… She might be able to help him out, right? She didn’t seem to be dangerous or anything, so he should just…

“Excuse me--”

He jumped back when she almost punched him straight in the face. Her eyes were grey, lifeless. They reminded him of a robot…

“W-watch where you’re swingin’ that thing!”

The woman froze, blinking a few times before her eyes went from grey to...red? That didn’t at all seem normal. “031…? Mother…?”

“What are you talkin’ about?” Akira frowned, tilting his head to the side.

“I...uh, nothing.” She shook her head with a frown. “I don’t know what I was saying. Um… If you need to speak to Akechi-kun, I’m not sure where he is.”

“Who?”

“Oh, you don’t need to speak to him, then?” She frowned, playing with her bangs. “Then… What do you need?”

“Do you know where to find Shujin Academy?”

“I don’t…” She shook her head.

Akira frowned, crossing his arms. There was something...off about this woman. He wasn’t sure what, but the eyes changing colors especially seemed to be odd. That and the way she was so fast to attack. No human had reflexes like that.

“That’s alright. Just one more question, ma’am.”

“Yes, what is it?”

“Could you teach me to defend myself like that?” He felt it could come in handy against those Shadows, if he ever ran into one again.

She frowned. “Why would anyone like you need to do that?”

“...I’m not the stronger guy, and it’s kind of scary when I’m walking around alone. Is that embarrassing…?” He hoped she would buy that.

“Is that...so?” She blinked a few times. “If...you really need help learning to defend yourself and you can ever find me in my time off, I guess I wouldn’t mind.”

“Really?” He smiled a bit, almost too excited. “You mean it?”

“Yes, I do.” She laughed a bit and smiled. “As long as you share your name?”

“Akira Kurusu, ma’am.”

“Please, don’t call me ma’am. I am...Phaedra.” She touched her… ear? No, that wasn’t an ear. It looked like a piece of a robot.

“I-I can do that.” He nodded and did his best to act like he hadn’t just noticed that. “It’ll be a pleasure to learn from you, Phaedra.”

“Yes.” Phaedra gave another, small smile. “It’ll be a pleasure to teach you.”

 

\--

 

“The ways you were seen moving and fighting while trying to escape wasn’t the way a boy your age should be able to move.” Sae crossed her arms, a frown on her face. “Someone else had to have taught you how to do that.”

She moved forward, slamming her hands on the table. “Tell me, then. Who was the person who taught you to fight like that?”

**Author's Note:**

> So, any questions/comments/concerns are welcomed! Please, we both love talking to people who read our stuff. Please.


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